Indexed carrier for blood specimens



March 20, 1956 R. J. 5. DE BOTON INDEXED CARRIER FOR BLOOD SPECIMENS Filed June 9, 1954 QUQQ @30 3 Q QQQQQQ J @cuf lm LL w J :EIEm

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United States Patent Ofifice 2,738,872 Patented Mar. 20, 1956 INDEXED CARRIER FOR BLOOD SPECIMENS Robert Jean Bernard de Boton, San Mateo, Calif. Application June 9, 1954, Serial No. 435,492.

5 Claims. (Cl. 206-72) This invention relates to clinical laboratory apparatus and more particularly to carriers for the transportation of various blood samples from a number of bed patients in a hospital to the hospitals blood analysis laboratory.

The testing of human blood is one of the oldest and most important routines in the diagnosis of disease. From the early observation of its clotting characteristics, the later identification of its corpuscles made possible by the invention of the microscope, blood analysis today involves no longer a few but many laboratory procedures requiring many samples of blood taken from the same patient at frequent intervals.

In the laboratory itself technological development has kept pace with the additional analysis responsibilities placed upon it in order to furnish Without delay the data required by the diagnostician. The variety of extremely specialized laboratory apparatus of this type readily available is amply demonstrated by the elaborate catalogues of a number of manufacturers.

There is, however, one important phase of the blood analysis procedure to which, from the standpoint of accuracy, efficiency and convenience, little attention has been devoted. This, briefly stated, is the problem of (1) taking the needed patient blood specimen and (2) transporting this particular specimen to the laboratory without delay, without contamination and without confusing the specimens of a number of patients.

In the beginning it is likely that blood sampling Was performed with Whatever instruments and vessels were at hand, a single blood specimen being all that was needed. Certainly, present day requirements both as to number and type as well as frequency of required specimens furnish a contrast of such significance that specialized implements and provisions for their efiicient use should be safely assumed. Such, however, is not the case.

While the implements themselves are today well designed for their intended purposes, the provision or a carrier which will conveniently accommodate such implements, segregated according to condition and ready for use is, to my knowledge, new to the art. Such a carrier unit, of course, must accommodate also receptacles and slides for the blood specimens, separate compartments for dilution fluid for white corpuscles and for red corpuscles and for alcohol. The various pipettes for white cells, red cells and hemoglobin must be separately compartmented and yet readily available. Sundries such as labels and ready-made bandage bands, capillary coagulation tubes and cotton should be separately grouped in four more compartments, While, if at all possible, there should be provided some effective means, remote from the liquid containers, for carrying filter paper and memorandum slips on which patients requests, doctors instructions, etc. can be recorded.

The overall problem may be more specifically assessed by considering that the specimens of ten patients must be provided for, since that has been found in practice to be the maximum number that a skilled attendant can perform this responsibility for within an hours time, transport the specimens to the laboratory and be ready to take the next series of blood specimens.

When it is realized that the individual blood specimens for a single patient require: one hemoglobin pipette, one white blood count pipette, one red blood count pipette, two slides for differential count, a tube for hemoglobin dilution, a tube for the sedimentation rate, a tube for coagulated blood sample, a tube for oxalated blood sample for chemical analysis and a tube for prothrombin time, the total of the foregoing receptacles for ten patients constitutes an array of some numerical magnitude to be in cluded in a hand type carrier of limited weight and dimensions.

The choice of receptacles best suited to the different purposes and giving due consideration to such factors as type, size, and shape is of importance but poses no great difiiculty due to the general acceptance and availability of standard receptacles based on previous consideration of these factors.

The arrangement of the selected receptacles within the carrier, however, is of great importance. A prime and hitherto, neglected principle is the grouping of the blood specimens of each patient so that no possibility of the mixing or dislocation of the specimens from different patients will exist. The location of the groups Within the carrier also is important, since singly used receptacles like those employed in blood sampling should be at one side of the carrier, preferably the left, and not utilize the more readily accessible central area which should accommodate a supply of those articles which are used with every patient. Of course, the excessive weight of many blood receptacles dictates a division of such group to avoid serious unbalance and the likelihood of accident since there will be times when the carrier will be supported by only one hand. Accordingly, certain of the numerous blood specimen tubes should be grouped at the right side of the carrier.

Another principle many years experience will readily confirm is the logical proximity of the supply of unused blood receptacles such as pipettes and slides to a safe and convenient location for their transport with the carrier when the sample has been taken.

With due consideration to the foregoing factors and recognizing individual compartment size will be determined largely by the number and the overall size of the articles justifiably provided therein, a basic carrier for this specific purpose, not susceptible to disarray because of many component parts, but of definite and permanent arrangement for maximum utility throughout years of service may be planned.

It is, therefore, a principal object of the present invention to provide a carrier for blood specimens and related implements and accessories characterized by logical and definite arrangement, minimum dimensions and one that is light in weight and easy to keep clean.

Another important object of the invention is to provide a carrier of the type described in which each series of blood specimens of a particular patient is definitely segregated from the similar series of other patients so that no inter-mixing of the individual specimens can occur.

A further object of the invention is to provide a blood specimen carrier for multi-patient use having an inflexible arrangement of compartments for immobilizing in spaced relation the receptacles particularly useful for retaining the various blood specimens required in a complete lab oratory analysis of human blood.

An additional object of the invention is to provide a blood specimen carrier of the minimum separability dictated by the necessities of cleaning when required.

Another object of the invention is to provide a blood specimen carrier of such versatility as to serve equally satisfactorily the requirements of partial blood sampling and the complete sampling of human blood.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a blood specimen carrier that contributes in maximum.

degree to the efiicient blood sampling routine of even relatively inexperienced or trainee personnel such as novice technicians, for example.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide a blood specimen carrier that provides a definite compartment for each essential receptacle, implement or accessory needed in the blood sampling of as many as ten hospital bed patients and of minimum overall dimensions since it is characterized by the minimum of compartment space for incidental or non-essential items.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a carrier of the type described which is durable, cornpact and relatively inexpensive.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be obvious and will be apparent from the following specification and accompanying drawing and wherein Figure 1 is a plan view of my improved carrier for blood specimens and Figure 2 is a sectional view thereof taken along the line 2--2 of Figure 1.

Referring now to the drawing there is shown a relatively shallow tray 5 of rectangular configuration and outlined by longitudinal side walls 6, 7 and lateral side walls 8, 9 united to a bottom wall 11 along its boundary. The tray as described, together with the various vertical, interior walls or partitions later to be particularly detailed, is formed preferably of an acid-resistant, resinous material by single step moulding and constitutes with the horizontal spacers to which adequate reference later will be made, the carrier of this invention.

In the left half of the carrier and extending for approximately one-third of its longitudinal extent is a rectangular space designated generally as 12 and particularly designed to maintain in vertical, spaced position, three blood specimen tubes 13 and a pair of blood count slides 14 for each of ten patients. Interior wall 15 extending parallel to wall 8 and interior wall 16 parallel to wall 6 and inwardly spaced therefrom together with the tray bottom 11 serve to define space 12. While the enclosed portion of bottom 11 may be of such thickness as to accommodate individual recesses for the tubes 13 and slides 14 to maintain them in upstanding position, it is preferred for economy of manufacture, convenience in use and ease of cleaning to provide at least one and preferably two horizontal and removable walls or spacers 17, 18 supported by a pair of continuously extended, vertically spaced ledges 19, 20 which are moulded integrally with walls 8, 7, 15 and 16. It will be noted that each transverse row of circular apertures for the three tubes is preferably designated by a suitable numeral integral with the spacer and the resulting indicia for the ten rows serve to positively identify the specimens as those of respective patients. Pipettes 22, 23 for red cells and white cells for each patient are conveniently retained in superposed relation between adjacent tube rows as shown in Figure 2.

The space between interior wall 16 and wall 6 is conveniently divided into four identical compartments 24, 25, 26, and 27 for retaining slides, red cell pipettes, white cell pipettes and hemoglobin pipettes when needed, the partitions being integral with the adjacent walls.

In the right half of the carrier and extending inwardly for a short distance from wall 9 is an elongated, rectangular space defined by said wall, interior wall 28 parallel thereto, a portion of wall 6 and another interior wall 29 disposed inwardly of parallel wall 7 and terminating at wall 15. The space just referred to accommodates twenty rows of blood specimen tubes (ten for oxalated blood and ten centrifuge tubes for prothrombin determination), two tubes being in each transverse row.

The construction is similar to that described in connection with space 12 and includes similar, circularly apertured spacers 31 and 32.

The rectangular space adjacent wall 7 and defined by portions of walls 15, 28, and 29 is preferably divided by walls parallel to wall 15 into an elongated, rectangular compartment 31 and two approximately square compartments 32 and 33. Compartment 31 snugly receives three standard, square bottles 34, 35 and 36 for White cells dilution fluid, red cells dilution fluid, and alcohol, respectively, while the latter retains labels, small, pad-type bandages, etc. and capillary coagulation tubes, respectively. The approximately square compartment 37 at the lower right hand corner of the carrier may be used to segregate used needles.

In the space defined by walls 6 and 29, 15 and 28 and in the central portion of the tray are carried the articles most used. Accordingly, this space is equally divided by a wall 38 parallel to wall 28 and further divided by a wall 39 normal thereto. The resulting large, rectangular compartments 41, 42 provide: (a) 20 sterile syringes of 5 cc. each, or 15 syringes of 10 cc. each, or 10 syringes of 20 cc. each, and (b) a similar compartment for used syringes.

A pair of smaller, rectangular spaces 43 and 44 result from the provision of a wall 45 which is parallel to wall 39 and terminates at walls 15 and 28 and these spaces conveniently accommodate sterile needles and cotton, respectively, while the long, narrow space 46 bounded by walls 6, 45, 15, and 28 serves to retain memoranda, patients requests, etc. out of the immediate vicinity of liquids.

Within overall dimensions of approximately 16 x 10 x 2 /2 inches it will be seen, therefore, that there has been provided a carrier of manifold advantages.

While the salient features of this invention have been described in detail with respect to certain embodiments, it will of course be apparent that numerous modifications may be made within the spirit and scope of this invention, and it is not therefore desired to limit the invention to the exact details shown except insofar as they may be defined in the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A compartmented blood specimen carrier for multi-patient hospital use comprising an integral, rigid tray of acid-resistant material consising of a horizontally disposed, rectangular bottom wall of width substantially greater than ten times the diameter of a standard blood specimen tube and of greater length than width, 21 vertically extending marginal wall integral with said bottom wall and extending about the four sides thereof, a first interior wall parallel to one of the shorter sides of said marginal wall and spaced inwardly therefrom by a distance greater than twice the diameter of a standard blood specimen tube, a second interior wall parallel to the side of said marginal wall opposite said one side and spaced inwardly from said opposite side by a distance greater than three times the diameter of a standard blood specimen tube plus the width of a standard blood count glass slide, additional vertical walls disposed in the central space defined by the oppositely disposed longer sides of said marginal wall and said interior walls for providing separate compartments for essential blood specimen implements, first means separable from said tray and disposable within the space between said first interior wall and said one side for supporting a plurality of rows of standard blood specimen tubes in spaced relation, second means also separable from said tray and disposable within the space between said second interior wall and said side of said marginal wall opposite said one side for supporting a plurality of rows of standard blood specimen tubes in spaced relation and a row of standard blood count glass slides contiguous one of the latter tube rows.

2. The combination of elements as described in claim 1 and wherein distinguishing indicia are provided integral with said first means and adjacent each tube in a single row of blood specimen tubes and indicia corresponding to said first-mentioned indicia are provided in said second means to correlate the series of blood specimen tubes supported by said second means with those supported by said first means.

3. The combination of elements as described in claim 1 and wherein said tray is of moulded resinous material.

4. The combination of elements as described in claim 1 and wherein each of said means comprises a rectangular, circularly apertured wall of rigid sheet material supported by ledges provided on said marginal wall and interior walls.

5. The combination of elements as described in claim 1 and wherein each of said means comprises a rectangular wall of rigid sheet material provided with parallel rows of circular apertures and the circular apertures of one row of one of said walls being diametrically key-hole slotted to support in parallelism a series of standard blood count glass slides.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS D. 170,651 Palczewski Oct. 20, 1953 1,021,998 Myers Apr. 2, 1912 1,459,943 Bailey June 26, 1923 1,821,753 Hovnan Sept. 1, 1931 1,914,276 Moore June 13, 1933 2,512,963 Peiker June 27, 1950 2,640,589 Foster et a1. June 2, 1953 

